We paid off $44,000 by following Dave Ramsey's financial plan. Follow along as we finish the rest of the steps to financial peace . . .

Monday, May 19, 2008

Update

Okay. Spent Saturday going over all the finances. I confess that I really just did a "where are we now" look at things, and did not go over the nitty gritty of exactly where and how much we overspent.

Basically, I had originally thought we would be able to deposit $10,000 into our savings . . . turns out we were only able to deposit $8,500. (This savings is for the new heating system we need to put in this summer to the tune of about $5,000, plus DD1's braces, some vacation savings for my sister who may be having a destination wedding, and some buffer money for the low commission months.)

This does not mean exactly that we "blew" $1,500 by not paying attention over the last several weeks. Some of this money was spent on necessities - like repairing the brakes on DH's car, which we had budgeted for $400 but turned out to cost $700. And there was my friend's daughter's Bat Mitzvah which in the end cost us almost $200. Etc.

BUT - there was a lot over general overspending. Eating out. Shopping. Non-necessity purchases.

I'll even confess that I went on another mini shopping spree today, and spend $200+ on clothes for myself. Although I have put on some extra weight :(, I can't really justify this spending as necessity. It was more like a balm. I was feeling a bit down about myself and did a little "retail therapy". I guess old patterns die hard. And the sad thing is - the shopping spree worked. I do feel happier having some nice clothes that fit well. It changes my outlook a little (at least for the short term).